Our travels this week will take us to the roots of one of Pittsburgh's most famous sons. We'll trace Andy Warhol's life in three stops. The first will take us to Paul Warhola Scrap Metals on Pittsburgh's North Side, where Andy's nephew Marty Warhola (that's him, left) offers his own art amid the backdrop of a salvage yard. (For background, here's a recent story about Marty and his art: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/s_675497.html.) Then it's on to the Warhol Museum, where we'll get up close with Andy's own work and vision. Be sure to bring your Pitt I.D. with you -- admission is free with i.d. After the museum, we'll cross the Andy Warhol Bridge and swing by Andy's childhood home -- 3252 Dawson Street in South Oakland, a rowhouse with a green and white striped awning and a collection of hedges. The Warholas were a family of especially modest means — Andy’s father Andrei toiled as a construction worker during the Depression and was often without gainful employment. We'll talk a bit about how Andy's working-class Pittsburgh background may have played out in his art. And we'll read some poems by Pittsburgh's own Peter Oresick, whose latest book Warhol-o-rama, will bring all this home.
Ideas for writing:
How does your own background play out in your writing, in your life? Where do you connect with Warhol, and where do you feel distance? What class do you consider yourself to be -- working, middle, upper, none of the above? How do class issues affect the way you see the world? How conscious are you of your place in the world? Where does beauty fit into your life?
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